Let Freedom Ring Flag Tutorial

Remember this post?  I bet you thought I had forgotten but I didn’t.  We had a couple that were right at the top with votes so I put them in random.org and Flag #2 was the winner.

I love flag #2 and was having a hard time not wanting to copy it outright but I also was LOVING the wreaths…what to do?

THEN I remembered something pretty awesome.  Back during the blog wars The Wood Connection (my favorite) sent me one of their Slat Signs

Since I hadn’t used it yet I figured this was the perfect time.

I started with that lovely sign and painted the whole thing cream.  Once the cream dried I painted the top, middle, and bottom stripes/sections burgandy.  Once everything was dry I sanded the whole thing down.  I wanted it quite distressed.  When I was done with all of that I wiped it down with a damp cloth and then used my favorite Minwax Early American stain to give the whole thing an aged look.

For the navy section of the flag I used a scrap piece of thin wood I had on hand and cut it down to the right size (I was brave and used Nate’s big saw on my own.  Especially with thin wood like that it really does help a lot to use a line of masking tape along the edge of your cut line.  I had no splintering which was good because that wasn’t the look I was going for).  I then painted it navy, let it dry, sanded it down, and stained it like I did the rest of the flag.

I used hot glue (temporary…I ran out of liquid nails) to attach the navy square to the rest of the flag.

I then opened up craft room and used the new chalkboard font to create my *Let Freedom Ring* with black vinyl.  I didn’t have any of the transfer paper so I used masking tape – it worked pretty well!  I also used cream vinyl to cut out my star.  I think that one is on the accent essentials (I have my cut file for Let Freedom Ring saved if you know how to use it!).

I loved how the flag looked on it’s own but then I remembered I had this big old wreath in the garage that was given to me years ago.  I got it out and dusted it off and was trying to figure out how to attach the flag to the wreath when Nate came to the rescue with these:

The slatted sign is a soft enough wood that I was able to just screw them in with my hand.  I put one in each corner of the back of the sign and then using wire attached it to the wreath.

So, there you go!  My version of flag #2.

I hope you like it and I hope you have an amazing 4th of July.   It is definitely one of my top 3 favorite holidays.  I love the feelings this day makes me feel and the pride that comes with all songs and events celebrating this amazing country we live in!

Last night the kids and I (along with a whole bunch of our friends) were in the Riverton Parade.

The kids loved getting to throw candy, wave flags, and wave at the people watching the parade.

We’ll be spending the day with family and being so thankful to all of those who fight to defend our country!

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